Kenwood Excelon vs XXV

swiftone
10+ year member

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Hey I was just wondering if anyone had any insight into the difference between the Excelon series vs the XXV besides the display. I tried to look into it and the main difference besides this was the number of sound processing software or something, but is this a substantial difference (worth the extra price)?

 
Umm....technically the Kenwood 25th Anniversary edition XXV-01D head unit is an eXcelon unit. It is currently Kenwood's top end non-DVD eXcelon in-dash receiver.

In the XXV-01D there are better-quality power supply capacitors and allegedly better cabling in the preamp outputs and aux input pigtails than those found in the rest of Kenwood's head units. Additionally, the obvious, it has a better screen than the KDC-X889 and lesser models.

While I cannot make a direct comparison between the XXV-01D and the KDC-X889 I can say as an upgrade from an '04 model eXcelon KDC-X679 it was well worth the price of admission to me. It sounds great, it looks great, in my particular install it took less than 3 minutes to have it securely in the dash and operating, and it allows (for me) a first foray into decks equipped with digital time alignment (a seemingly insignificant ability until you have and use it! I won't own a deck without it again)

It has Quad (4 of them) 24-bit Burr Brown Digital-To-Analog converters in place of the industry standard Quad 1-bit DACs and YES it makes a huge difference in the playback of your fave discs. There's an audible difference between this and a deck that came with a single 24-bit Burr Brown DAC (my previous eXcelon).

Available for $450/shipped from an authorized retailer complete with a valid manufacturer's 2 year warranty or for considerably less elsewhere on the 'Net sometimes with a warranty and sometimes not ~ depending on the source.

Long Story Short: I love mine and would recommend to anyone looking that they give strong consideration to picking one up.

 
I'm interested in that 25 anniversary HU. Have you tried the iPod interface with it? I'm curious how well that functions.

My friend has the XXV and uses his iPod with it.

I got to try it out the other night, and must say that I was impressed. It's basically just like controlling a CD Changer...but with more music. It displays the song titles and track/folder number.

Very neat feature IMO.

 
Awesome, thanks for the feedback. How was the speed when scrolling through albums? I know some of them you can only go so fast.
Scrolling through albums how? Jumping from one to the next or fast cueing within a particular song? Seems to me it loads .mp3 files quicker and can jump from one album to the next faster than the '04 model eXcelon KDC-X679 I replaced with it if that's of any help to you...

 
Yeah, that's what I was referring to. Like when you're scrolling through your whole album list looking for Monkey Business(figuring you're not going to B for artist instead).

 
Yeah, that's what I was referring to. Like when you're scrolling through your whole album list looking for Monkey Business(figuring you're not going to B for artist instead).
Well - when I burn discs that contain entire albums there will generally only be 5 or 6 albums on the disc (I rip my .mp3 files @ 320 kb/s - they take up a bit more space on a CD-R than 128 or 224 kb/s files)

After burning them, seeing as there is only half a dozen or so to keep track of even my poor, pitiful little brain can remember which folder is which album and the direct folder access feature makes it pretty simple to go from one to another....

 
Excelon also has a new top model which is pretty much identical to the 25th anniversary unit http://www.crutchfield.com/S-pelJQHq7nsF/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=300&I=113KDCX990
The "new" KDC-X990 has Wolfson DACs vs. XXV-01D's (25th Anniv) Quad Burr-Browns. Yes the screen are the same but I believe the 990 left out some features that were available on the 01D. I haven't listened to any Wolfson DAC car audio implemtation, only home audio. (For my home audio the Wolfson DAC is slightly better sounding than BB but that was in my $4K Integra Research processor though.) IMO, the 990's $180 premium over the 01D is not a good buy (Crutchfield recently dropped the 01D's price to $400 -- a very good authorized dealer price: http://www.crutchfield.com/S-i8W2FO88vRT/cgi-bin/Prodview.asp?c=3&g=300&I=113XXV01D&s=0&cc=01)

For my part, I ordered a 01D unit based on curiosity and on good reviews from Prowler and various other forums. I have NEVER EVER considered Kenwood in all my time in car audio and have to admit that this unit is a pleasant surprise. It's SQ is excellent -- on par to my Eclipse 8455. Sure there is less flexibility in terms of 3-way setup (for active) but IMO, it integrates a passive speaker system better than the Eclipse; YMMV but that's how it was with my setup. Soundwise, I would put it right between Alpine and Eclipse -- not warm like Clarion DRZ, not thin like Alpine, and not analytical like Eclipse but full bodied and musical. The screen is one of the best displays I've seen in a long time. It's certainly the best in a single DIN unit.

For those looking to go active and have ultimate flexibility in the near future, this unit is not for you. But for those who like good SQ with decent flexibility then the 25th Anniv model is a very good choice. I may very well keep this unit when it's all said and done.

Prowler -- I'm glad I read your posts as I have never seriously looked at Kenwood to be a SQ player. Thanks.

 
The "new" KDC-X990 has Wolfson DACs vs. XXV-01D's (25th Anniv) Quad Burr-Browns. Yes the screen are the same but I believe the 990 left out some features that were available on the 01D. I haven't listened to any Wolfson DAC car audio implemtation, only home audio. (For my home audio the Wolfson DAC is slightly better sounding than BB but that was in my $4K Integra Research processor though.) IMO, the 990's $180 premium over the 01D is not a good buy (Crutchfield recently dropped the 01D's price to $400 -- a very good authorized dealer price: http://www.crutchfield.com/S-i8W2FO88vRT/cgi-bin/Prodview.asp?c=3&g=300&I=113XXV01D&s=0&cc=01)

For my part, I ordered a 01D unit based on curiosity and on good reviews from Prowler and various other forums. I have NEVER EVER considered Kenwood in all my time in car audio and have to admit that this unit is a pleasant surprise. It's SQ is excellent -- on par to my Eclipse 8455. Sure there is less flexibility in terms of 3-way setup (for active) but IMO, it integrates a passive speaker system better than the Eclipse; YMMV but that's how it was with my setup. Soundwise, I would put it right between Alpine and Eclipse -- not warm like Clarion DRZ, not thin like Alpine, and not analytical like Eclipse but full bodied and musical. The screen is one of the best displays I've seen in a long time. It's certainly the best in a single DIN unit.

For those looking to go active and have ultimate flexibility in the near future, this unit is not for you. But for those who like good SQ with decent flexibility then the 25th Anniv model is a very good choice. I may very well keep this unit when it's all said and done.

Prowler -- I'm glad I read your posts as I have never seriously looked at Kenwood to be a SQ player. Thanks.

wheres does it say the 990 has Wolfson DACs?

 
The "new" KDC-X990 has Wolfson DACs vs. XXV-01D's (25th Anniv) Quad Burr-Browns. Yes the screen are the same but I believe the 990 left out some features that were available on the 01D. I haven't listened to any Wolfson DAC car audio implemtation, only home audio. (For my home audio the Wolfson DAC is slightly better sounding than BB but that was in my $4K Integra Research processor though.) IMO, the 990's $180 premium over the 01D is not a good buy (Crutchfield recently dropped the 01D's price to $400 -- a very good authorized dealer price: http://www.crutchfield.com/S-i8W2FO88vRT/cgi-bin/Prodview.asp?c=3&g=300&I=113XXV01D&s=0&cc=01)
Thanks for that comparison. I know saw the Wolfson DAC mentioned somewhere when I first became aware of the KDC-X990 but while trying to find where so I could respond to excelerater's question I couldn't find it anywhere! Glad I have some backup on that and confirmation that I wasn't seeing things. I was wondering how the Wolfson compared to the Burr-Browns but didn't know of anyone I could inquire about it to. If the difference is minimal I cannot see it rating the extra expenditure over the XXV-01D. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/mad.gif.c18f003ab0ef8a0d9c27ca78d77a6392.gif It's a bit maddening that Crutchfield dropped the price an additional $50 (maddening to me, anyway...I got mine about a month ago after the price had dropped to $450) but regardless of price even if the X990 was a considerably better deck I couldn't justify that kind of audio purchase so soon after having already made a major one.
For my part, I ordered a 01D unit based on curiosity and on good reviews from Prowler and various other forums. I have NEVER EVER considered Kenwood in all my time in car audio and have to admit that this unit is a pleasant surprise. It's SQ is excellent -- on par to my Eclipse 8455. Sure there is less flexibility in terms of 3-way setup (for active) but IMO, it integrates a passive speaker system better than the Eclipse; YMMV but that's how it was with my setup. Soundwise, I would put it right between Alpine and Eclipse -- not warm like Clarion DRZ, not thin like Alpine, and not analytical like Eclipse but full bodied and musical. The screen is one of the best displays I've seen in a long time. It's certainly the best in a single DIN unit.
One of the best comparisons between the XXV-01d and other top-shelf units from its competitors that I have seen thus far. Thanks for that. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif
For those looking to go active and have ultimate flexibility in the near future, this unit is not for you. But for those who like good SQ with decent flexibility then the 25th Anniv model is a very good choice. I may very well keep this unit when it's all said and done.
Prowler -- I'm glad I read your posts as I have never seriously looked at Kenwood to be a SQ player. Thanks.
Glad I could have been of any assistance ~ especially in making someone else a believer in Kenwood //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gifI'll happily admit due to personal experience I remain loyal to Kenwood somewhat blindly but thus far they've not given me any reason to feel that said loyalty is misplaced (I guess I got lucky and never bought one of the HUs with the now infamous D-Mask+ faceplate mechanism....it very well could have changed my mind)

 
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